Understanding the Intention to Trust Product Information and Certifications to Promote Sustainable Consumption: Applying the Theory of Planned Behavior

Abstract

This paper explores consumers trust in sustainable product and certification information included in the product’s package and label by using Azjen’s theory of planned behavior as a framework. We used 327 observations collected from an international survey distributed to students in the U.S., Mexico and Indonesia as proxy of consumers’ view. Our results demonstrate that the consumer’s general predisposition toward trust, social normative pressure, and the presence of factors that facilitate consumer’s perceptions to perform trust behavior significantly increase the consumer’s intention to trust sustainable product and certification information. Although we found some country variations in terms of the propensity to trust product information, the differences have no impact on the hypotheses of the theory of planned behavior. Our findings provide suggestive evidence of the instrumental roles of ICTs to facilitate sustainable development by enabling positive changes in consumer behavior, specifically in supporting sustainable consumption.